Transparent jackets for strips and individual photographic negatives, film, prints, slides and the like, such as disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,546,053, and 3,866,648, are in wide use in industry and for a variety of commercial and consumer applications. Such jackets are generally formed of a pair of transparent plastic films which have a plurality of spaced apart parallel and/or perpendicular bonding lines between the pair of films to form film pockets therein of suitable dimension for insertion of the photographic materials.
Such jackets are stored in files or books and carry the photographic negatives, film or prints for scanning or copying and enlarging by photographic or other processes. The pockets of the jackets may be loaded from time to time with strips or individual frames of film, prints, slides or the like and then stored until they are later required.
Various versions of jackets are available which are commonly of a size that can be fitted as pages into books, such as ring binders or hang in file drawers. One such type is characterized as including a series of parallel pockets, which can extend along the short or long dimensions of said pages. Such pockets may include a long lateral opening across the top ("top-loading"), or a small cross-cut at one or both ends, wherein strips of predetermined lengths can be loaded into the pockets from the top, or by inserting and sliding in from either end.
While "top-loading" pockets makes possible the ready insertion or removal of film strips with less likelihood of damaging them as compared to inserting an end thereof and then loading by sliding, the easy accessability of the strips makes them more susceptible to being inadvertently dislodged when, for example, the pages filed in a book are removed, or when the books are moved or used. It has been surprisingly found that if the length of the lateral opening across a top edge of the "top loading" pocket can be shortened somewhat, the inadvertent dislodging of a photographic film strip or an individual frame thereof from the pocket can be substantially eliminated without significantly reducing the ease of insertion or removal thereof. This can be achieved by bonding the edges of the pair of transparent films forming the holder or jacket for a short distance at one or both ends of the opening along the open end of the pocket.
An object of the present invention is to provide a transparent plastic film holder or jacket having at least one retaining pocket, said retaining pocket having two opposing closed ends and an openable end extending between said closed ends along a substantial portion of an edge of said pocket with opposing plies of the plastic film defining said openable end being closed for a short distance, at one or both ends thereof, which substantially reduces or eliminates inadvertent dislodging of strips of photographic film from within the pocket.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a transparent film holder having a plurality of retaining pockets, each of said retaining pockets having an openable end extending between two opposite closed ends, wherein the openable end of said pocket is closed for a short distance at one or both ends thereof extending from said opposed closed ends to eliminate inadvertent disloding of strips of photographic film from within the pocket.
Yet another object of the present invention is to provide a holder for photographic film strips having a plurality of retaining pockets for said strips of photographic film, each of said pockets having an openable end between two opposite closed ends wherein the length of said pocket and said openable end are substantially the length of a strip of photographic film to be inserted therein and said openable end is closed for a short distance at one or both ends thereof extending from the opposed closed ends of the pocket to prevent the inadvertent dislodgement of film strips from within the retaining pockets.
Still another object of the present invention is to provide a transparent film holder for photographic film negatives, prints or the like, having at least one retaining pocket, said retaining pocket having an openable end intermediate two opposite closed ends, wherein said openable end has one or both ends thereof closed for a short distance, and a closed end of said pocket opposite the openable end being openable for a short distance and whereby inadvertent dislodging of photographic films or the like stored within the pocket is reduced or eliminated and insertion or removal of photographic films or the like can be accomplished without undue distortion or sliding of the photographic article.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a transparent film holder for a plurality of strips of photographic film, or individual frames thereof which can be fitted as pages in books, hang in file drawers or the like, wherein the photographic items can be readily inserted into or removed from said holder without undue distortion or sliding thereof while the inadvertent dislodging of the photographic items is reduced or substantially eliminated when the holder is stored, used and/or moved.
Other objects, features and advantages of the present invention will become apparent from the following specification and claims, together with the accompanying drawings.